The
Standard’s
editorial generally represented a distinctly British
viewpoint. Another separate English-language newspaper,
The Southern Cross, was founded in 1875 by Rev.
Patrick Joseph Dillon for the Irish Catholic
community, and presented a Catholic and Irish nationalist
viewpoint. The Southern Cross was also an important
organ in the diffusion of sport in the Irish community.
William Bulfin, the editor of the paper in the early
1900s, is credited with the formal introduction of hurling
to Argentina, though it had been played earlier in the
country in an unorganised fashion. In August 1900 a
lengthy article on the rules of hurling were published in
the paper. The Southern Cross also played an
important role in women’s hockey, when it published an
article in June 1930 seeking players for the Argentine
Federation of Hurling. Since then, Hurling Club has gone
on to become one of the more successful teams in the
country in both women’s and men’s hockey.

Sporting Contacts between Ireland and Latin America

Rugby

The most
enduring and frequent sporting contact between Ireland and
a Latin American country is that with Argentina in the
sphere of rugby. The earliest international contacts with
Argentina were through the British Isles team
(colloquially know as the British Lions and, from 2001,
the British and Irish Lions), who toured the country in
1927 and again in 1936, and included Irish players.
However, it was not until 1952 that the first Irish team
visited Argentina, making history in the process by
becoming the first Home
[10] rugby union to do so. ‘The
tour was nearly aborted due to the death of Eva Perón’
(Cronin 2007: 48). The two international games against
Argentina in Buenos Aires were non-cap internationals.
Whilst Argentina lost the first test by six points they
drew 3-3 in the second test in Buenos Aires, which was
almost considered a victory for Argentina, as they had
avoided defeat against a major rugby nation.

The Irish
visited Argentina again in 1970 and lost the two tests,
signalling the emergence of the Pumas as a rugby power.
The Pumas reciprocated Ireland’s gesture of being the
first Home Nation to visit Argentina by making their first
appearance in Europe in 1973 at Thomond Park in Limerick
against Munster. The Irish Times commented: ‘that
Ireland should be the first hosts is extremely fitting,
for we are pioneers among the Home Countries to tour South
America, when we sent a party out in 1952’ (MacWeeney
1973: 3). The Pumas returned again in 1978, but only
played one game against Leinster. Ireland planned a tour
in 1985, but it was cancelled in the aftermath of the
Falklands / Malvinas war.

It was to
be 1990 before sporting links were re-established. In a
report in the The Irish Times the restoration of
playing links with Argentina was warmly welcomed (Van
Esbeck 1990:30). In that particular encounter the Pumas
won 28-24.
Perhaps the most infamous night in the
history of Irish rugby was when the Pumas deprived Ireland
of a place in a home 1999 World Cup quarter-final in
Dublin. The Argentine team upset their Irish counterparts
with a score of 28-24 in the final pool game in Lens,
France. Since then, encounters between the Pumas and
Ireland have metamorphosed into one of the most bitter
rivalries in the sport, though this has been confined to
invectives among the team and coaching staff as opposed to
the fans. Ireland was drawn in the same pool against the
Pumas again in the 2003 World Cup in Australia and in
France 2007. At club level there has also been a lot of
contact between the two countries. Club Atlético de San
Isidro (C.A.S.I.) was one of the first clubs to tour
Ireland in 1973.

Sporting
contact has not always generated a forging of cultural
understanding. One of the most bizarre incidents in
sporting contact between Ireland and Latin America
occurred in August 1978 in Buenos Aires. Irish rugby
international Willie Anderson was on tour with the
Penguins rugby club (an international touring club based
in the UK), when he was arrested for stealing the
Argentine flag from a government building (Cronin 2007:
58) and demeaning a patriotic symbol. An editorial in
The Buenos Aires Herald labelled the act ‘brainless
buffoonery’. Two companions, fellow Irish internationals
David Irwin and Frank Wilson, were also arrested,
prompting calls for intervention from the British and
Irish governments. The matter was even raised by an
Argentine journalist with an irascible General Galtieri,
who was then army commander-in chief and senior member of
the military junta. His response was ‘do not bait
me. No one here is going to touch any flag and he who does
will pay the consequences’ (The Irish Times, 16
August 1980). Although Wilson and Irwin were released
after three weeks, Anderson was to spend over three months
in prison before being cleared of any charges.

Football

In the
area of football the contacts between Latin America and
Ireland have generally pertained to friendlies. The
first Latin American country to play Ireland was
Argentina, who came to Dalymount Park in Dublin in 1951
and defeated the Republic of Ireland team by 0-1. The next
encounter with a Latin American country was perhaps the
most divisive in the history of the Football Association
of Ireland (FAI). In 1974 the FAI planned a foreign tour
of Chile, Brazil and Uruguay. The proposed tour included a
match against the Chilean national team in the National
Stadium in Santiago de Chile. In doing so the Republic of
Ireland team would become the first foreign side to play
in Chile since General Augusto Pinochet’s military coup
against the government of Salvador Allende in September
1973. Playing in the National Stadium would be
particularly symbolic, as it was used as a detention
centre following the coup for ‘at least 7,000’
political prisoners (Collier & Sater 2004: 360) and became
the main centre for interrogation.